Hello all,

I'm new to this list - my wife and I just purchased a 1981 C&C 34 center
board version.  The boat has been on the hard for about 1.5 years after
being a salt water boat here in the Boston area.  The surveyor assessed
that the rudder was "saturated and delaminating" and he recommended
rebuilding or replacing it due to concern about corrosion of the stainless
rudder post in the low-oxygen environment inside the rudder.  (My surveyor
wasn't specifically familiar with the C&C boats from this vintage).  I
called South Shore Yachts last week to inquire about getting a new rudder
built - but they suggested that it likely wasn't necessary and that they
had never seen one fail due to corrosion of the stainless steel rudder post
(which is my main concern) and that while most likely the welded carbon
steel plate inside the rudder would have surface rust it wasn't likely to
be a structural issue.

Following the recommendation from them and on some of the forums, I drilled
several 1/4" holes in the rudder to investigate further.  The hole in the
bottom drilled upwards just hit fiberglass for the length of the drill bit
~2.5 inches as did a side hole about 3 inches up.  In the side about 5
inches up from the bottom, I did hit water that drained out and another
hole about 12 inches from the top in the middle of the side also hit water
and saturated soft foam.  I did not hit a metal plate in either location.
The hole in the top went through a layer of fiber glass in the middle and
then into foam in the other side.  Combined both holes drained about 3 cups
of water from the rudder in the first hour or so and maybe a little more
over night.  The water that drained out was not rust colored but rather
tinted black.  So the surveyor was correct that the rudder is full of water
and the foam inside is pretty soft.  However, it also seems like the
fiberglass is thick and pretty solid and there is no sign of cracking from
it freezing during the winter.

Obviously, I would prefer to avoid the cost of rebuilding/replacing the
rudder if it isn't necessary, but also don't want to take on too high a
risk of having a catastrophic failure of the rudder while under way. Once
the rudder dries out a bit, I could just fill the holes I drilled with
epoxy and perhaps try to seal around where the rudder post comes out of the
top which is where I assume the water got in the first place since it
didn't drain out with the boat on the hard for over a year.

Any experience out there investigating potential corrosion of similar
vintage and design C&C rudders or other recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

Nathan

~~~

Nathan Post
S/V Wisper
C&C 34
Malden, MA USA
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